


darling, are you drunk enough to kiss me?

by esljackzimmermann (QuietLittleVoices)



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Drunk Kissing, Lack of Communication, M/M, Nursey Being An Embarrassment To Us All, canon-typical alcohol use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-14
Updated: 2015-11-14
Packaged: 2018-05-01 15:41:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5211407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuietLittleVoices/pseuds/esljackzimmermann
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's a reason why Nursey needs a patrol when he's drunk, and it isn't the Table Dancing Incident of 2015. It has a little something to do with Top 40's hits and a certain ginger defense-man.</p>
<p>Or; Nursey sings when he's drunk and Dex is oblivious.</p>
            </blockquote>





	darling, are you drunk enough to kiss me?

**Author's Note:**

> I tried to answer the question of why someone needs to patrol Nursey while he's drunk and here we are.
> 
> For Justine tumblr user bittyhoney; this is all her fault.

Nursey’s singing voice is fine. Dex knows this because Nursey sings along to his music even when he has headphones in, and Dex can admit to himself that Nursey doesn’t usually sound terrible. He’d never say it out loud, but he knows it.

Drunk Nursey, however, sounds a bit like a cat caught out in the rain, or a woodchipper.

“ _Oh c’mon, oh c’mon_ ,” Nursey sings dramatically along with the tinny speakers. “ _What’s a boy to do_?”

Dex looks around for Chowder, who he’s pretty sure is supposed to be on Nursey Patrol, but couldn’t see him anywhere. _Probably with Farmer_ , he thinks half-bitterly, before chastising himself for being bitter towards Chowder, as Nursey continues to sing and lean heavily against Dex’s shoulder.

Dex figures that Chowder haa seen that Nursey is with him, and realizes Nursey will be fine and safe from himself and his table-dancing proclivities.

Except that just as he’s thinking it, Chowder pops up at Nursey’s side and grips his arm tightly, looking slightly strained. “C’mon, Nursey, let’s go see if Bitty has pie,” he says cheerfully, because no matter what Chowder _always_ speaks ‘cheerfully’.

Nursey allows himself to be guided away, throwing a wide smile and a quick wave in Dex’s direction before disappearing back into the thrum of the party.

Dex shakes his head, amused. Drunk Nursey is always an adventure.

 

Dex had always known, in some abstract way, that he was gay. Sure, he had packaged it away and dated girls in high school and generally tried to _not_ be gay. And from the way his parents and family talked, he’d thought for a long time that _he_ was doing something wrong, that he wasn’t trying hard enough to not be gay. It took two years at Samwell to unpackage that and realize that absolutely nothing in the world that he tried was going to change anything.

The only other person who knew was Bitty, because Dex had been drunk and Bitty’s pies were very persuasive. Bitty had looked sad, and told Dex that if he _ever wanted to talk about, y’known, anything_ , then he would be there for him. Dex had yet to take him up on the offer.

Even though he hadn’t directly _told_ anyone else, Dex was pretty sure that at least Nursey and Chowder knew or could guess anyway. Which was why Dex could only drum up detached amusement when Nursey got drunk and sang love songs in his face.

But it was fine. Really, totally fine.

 

Dex walks past the kitchen a few hours before the next party and then backtracks when he realizes that almost half the team is gathered around the table.

“I’ll watch Nursey,” Wicks is saying.

Ollie groans. “But we were gonna trash those LaX bros in flip-cup.”

“I can watch Nursey,” Dex offers from the doorway. Everyone turns to look at him at once, all with identical looks of fear on their faces. Dex can’t help but be confused - last he’d checked, speaking up from a doorway wasn’t particularly scary. Maybe a little startling, but not scary.

“We’ll watch Nursey,” Ollie says quickly, and Bitty nods at him.

“Okay, good, that’s settled. Thanks for the offer anyway, Dex. Who wants pie?”

 

Nursey finds Dex during the party and slides up next to him with a huge grin.

“Ditch your tail?” Dex mutters, sipping his beer easily. Nursey’s holding a red solo cup that looks nearly empty and Dex’s pretty sure that it started off full of something stronger than his beer.

“Something like that,” he responds cheerfully.

Dex is about to respond when Nursey perks up, tilting his head to the side slightly as if to hear something better, and then launches into Drunk In Love at the same time as Jay-Z. _Bitty must’ve gotten control of the auxiliary cord_ , Dex thinks to himself.

Nursey trips over his words and genuinely _giggles_ to himself, looking at Dex the whole time with a look that Dex is pretty sure is supposed to be ‘seductive’ in some way. Nursey braces a hand against the wall right above Dex’s right shoulder, seemingly to keep himself up, and moves in close. He’s trying to pitch his voice low but it keeps cracking in his drunken state.

Dex wants to laugh at Nursey but he feels himself flush at their proximity and knows suddenly that that was Nursey’s goal - to embarrass him. He hates that he can’t hide how much it’s working, and just as he’s about to duck away from Nursey’s gaze, Nursey is yanked backwards almostly violently by Ollie and Wicks.

“Lost track of you there,” Wicks says, patting Nursey’s shoulder heavily.

“We’ll take him back now. Thanks, Dex,” Ollie adds. Dex nods as they spin Nursey around and walk him somewhere else in the Haus - hopefully the kitchen or bathroom, Dex thinks. Nursey looked like he could use the rehydration.

 

The singing thing never comes up while they’re sober - probably, Dex thinks, because Nursey doesn’t even remember crooning Top 40 hits in Dex’s ear.

Dex stops that train of thought before it goes further. Thinking about Nursey’s breath on his neck, his laughing voice in his ear, wasn’t the kind of neutral territory that Dex tried to keep himself on.

Nursey doesn’t find Dex during a party again until after the winter break and when he does it almost feels like something Dex is afraid to think about has been building up. Nursey appears next to him suddenly, breaking through the crowd with a half-stumble.

Dex opens his mouth to say something in greeting but Nursey comes so close that there’s barely an inch of space between them, their chests just barely not touching each other, and Dex feels like all the air’s been sucked out of his lungs. For half a second, he thinks Nursey’s eyes flicker downwards, but then Nursey is leaning in too far to the left and Dex can feel his breathing against the inside of his ear. It’s damp, hot, and vaguely uncomfortable, and Dex has to keep himself from shivering.

“ _Let’s talk about_ Dex, baby, _let’s_ -”

Nursey doesn’t get farther than that because Dex puts his hand on Nursey’s shoulder and nearly doubles over in laughter, unable to contain himself at the ridiculousness of the situation. When he stands back up, there’s a conversational distance between them again and Nursey is pouting.

“I spent a week thinking that up, Dex! And you ruined it,” he said petulantly.

Dex raises his eyebrow. “Really? Dude. That was lame.”

Nursey opens his mouth to protest but Chowder pops up suddenly and wedges himself between them. “Sorry, Dex! I got caught up with Farmer and he got away from me.” Chowder puts his hands on Nursey’s chest and pushes him away, then looks back over his shoulder at Dex. “Hope he wasn’t a bother. We’re gonna go now.”

 

They secure their place in the playoffs a little over a month later in a game where Chowder gets a shutout and the party afterwards is already shaping up to be legendary by ten o’clock.

Dex has done more shots than he cares to think about and knows that his face is bright red. Somehow he finds a wall and leans his back against it in an attempt to remain vertical but he’s more than tempted to just sink down rest. He isn’t surprised when Nursey stumbles into him, their bodies pressing together for a second before Nursey turns so that they’ve both got their backs against the wall and their shoulders pressed together.

“Hey,” he murmurs, looking over at Dex from the corner of his eyes.

Dex turns his head to look back at him, pressing his cheek against the cold wall. It feels so nice that he almost loses his train of thought, but he manages to catch it at just the last moment. “What?” he asks. “No song?”

“I can sing if you want me to,” Nursey offers, pitching his voice in a weak attempt at seduction.

Dex laughs, shaking his head. “I’m good.” He stops laughing when Nursey reaches up and puts a hand on the side of his face. He still can’t think straight (and even his drunk mind finds that ironic) but suddenly everything feels sharper than it ever has before. Dex thinks that if he looks around now, the entire Haus and all the people in it would look different but he can’t keep his eyes off of Nursey. He tracks the movement of Nursey’s tongue as it darts out and wets his lips and notices Nursey staring back.

Later he’ll wish he can remember who leans in first but it’s all a blur and suddenly they’re just kissing. It’s softer than he thought it’d be after their countless hours of explosive arguments. Neither of them have the fine motor control necessary for a good kiss so it’s all teeth and tongue, hands scrambling for purchase in a way that’s oddly unhurried. It’s as if they’re both acting like they know there will be plenty of time for this.

Nursey starts tugging on his shirt and Dex still has enough control of his own thoughts to realize that now would be a good time to leave the living room, and he starts to push Nursey towards the stairs. It doesn’t take long before Nursey catches on and grins at him, pulling away and taking his hand to drag him up to the attic.

They don’t make out for much longer when they get there, though. They end up shirtless and asleep, tangled together in the bottom bunk. Nursey has his face buried in the side of Dex’s neck and the button on his jeans cuts into Dex’s stomach, but Dex sleeps better than he has in a while.

 

Dex wakes up alone the next morning; the only evidence that anything had happened the night before a hickey on his collarbone and a half-circle under his belly button.

He tries not to be disappointed as he changes into something clean, pulling a hoodie on top of his shirt because the hickey was poking out over the collar and he was too tired to put up with the chirping that that would bring or to think up a suitable story that didn’t involve Nursey’s mouth.

It didn’t mean anything, he reasons. They were both drunk and high on adrenalin, just looking for something to string that along. It didn’t matter.

 

Except that Nursey is actively avoiding him, which was hard considering that they share a room. Everyone in the Haus starts giving Dex a mix of worried and sad looks as if they’ve caught on to the mood between the resident d-men. Dex feels tense, like there’s something itching just under his skin, and the few times he manages to see Nursey during the week he isn’t sure if he wants to punch him or recreate what got them into this standoff.

Nursey walks into the attic with his shoulders squared and his jaw set like he’s gearing up for a fight.

“We should talk,” he says, his voice steady and determined.

Dex turns around in his chair and looks up at him. “Yeah, I think so.”

Nursey nods. “Listen, I don’t regret kissing you at the party,” he starts.

Dex raises an eyebrow. “You sure about that? Call me old-fashioned but I think disappearing before I woke up says ‘regret’.”

“Yeah, that - that was a mistake,” Nursey admits. “I thought you’d get mad at me, or you’d get awkward and shut me out, so I ran, and I’m not proud of it.”

“The only reason I’m _mad_ is _because_ you left.” Dex scrubs a hand over his face - he doesn’t want to make this another fight.

Nursey looks confused now. “But - you don’t like guys,” he says and Dex rolls his eyes.

“If I wasn’t into it, I wouldn’t have let you fall asleep with your elbow in my diaphragm,” Dex tells him.

“I’m sorry,” Nursey mutters, ducking his head.

Dex stands up, talking half a step towards Nursey. “You should stop making assumptions about me.”

Nursey looks back up at him, a smile starting on his lips. “Looks like I’m not very good at it, huh?”

“Maybe you could get better.”

 

The next time Nursey sings to him, neither of them are drunk.

“You interrupted me last time,” Nursey tells him indignantly. “You owe it to me to let me finish. I worked hard on this, Poindexter.”

Dex lets him sing the song and ends up laughing so hard there’s tears in his eyes. No matter what else, Dex knows that Nursey’s remix of ‘ _Let’s talk about sex_ ’ isn’t about to be the next one-hit wonder.

 

 


End file.
